When Tom Kantos was given a scroll saw for Christmas about 35 years ago, it was not only the beginning of learning the skill, but also the start of a project of “giving a child what many can’t.”
“It is my small contribution in paying back what others have done for me and my family over the years,” Kantos said.
His contributions include about a thousand wooden cutouts of different shapes that he has donated over the past eight years to elementary students to paint and color. The significance of the cutouts is more than giving children an art project, he said, as teachers have told Kantos the work has helped children voice themselves in a way that coloring on paper can’t.
“If you ever sat in a classroom full of second-, third- or fourth-graders coloring or painting any of the cutouts I have donated, you would see kids expressing their talents and having a great time,” he said. “A piece of paper cannot compete with a 3/4-inch piece of wood.”
And sometimes, the “simple cutouts” have had a deeper impact.
“A little third-grade girl told the teacher after painting and decorating the 5-inch high Christmas tree I had donated to each child in the class, ‘Mrs. M., this is the only Christmas tree we will have at our house this year,’” Kantos said.
Schools that have received his cutouts are in International Falls, Detroit Lakes and Shakopee; Fort Frances and Dryden, Ontario; Winnipeg and Grand Beach, Manitoba. Schools in Costa Rica and Mexico have also received his cutouts. He has also made donations to Rainy Crest Nursing Home in Fort Frances.
The cutouts Kantos creates are wooden pieces that he cuts and shapes on his scroll saw; he has made various flowers, Christmas trees, walleyes, maple leaves, moose, seahorses, dinosaurs, rocking horses, a frog on a dowel stick for flower pots, birdhouses, snowmen and snowwomen and other seasonal shapes. The items are made on a scroll saw, which is a small electric or pedal-operated saw that can cut intricate curves and is capable of creating curves with edges.
After receiving the saw for Christmas, Kantos learned to cut out animals, fish and trees for his daughters. Today, he makes them for his grandchildren, their classrooms and classes at other schools.
Besides donations, he also sells cutout sets with washable markers at retailers such as Border Bob’s. The sets are called “Better Than a Coloring Book.” Kantos also uses his scroll saw to make wooden signs with cutouts reading “Rainy Lake,” people’s names or other personalizations. His products are featured on his website, www.betterthanacoloringbook.com.
He plans to continue making cutouts for classrooms for at least the next eight years, Kantos said. He has made cutouts for special occasions, such as flower cutouts for children to decorate and give to their mothers for Mother’s Day.
“Making the donations I have made, and selling the cutouts commercially have been fulfilling to me,” Kantos said. “It verifies that my work is enjoyed and appreciated.”
He added that the projects teach him patience.
“Scroll sawing is not really a talent as much as it is a skill that you can learn and hone,” Kantos said. “As I often say when it comes to kids and these painting or coloring projects, ‘Expect imagination, not perfection.’”
The art of scroll sawing
Now retired, Kantos has had more time to work on scroll sawing projects, he said.
“The cutouts have been a big part of my life since my retirement,” Kantos said.
Kantos says scroll sawing “is really not complicated,” although there are some unique challenges.
“To be a scroll sawer, it takes an interest in the work and a love of wood. You can research much of the basics, and then just practice and practice and you will be involved in the process.” he said. “It does take some time to learn a few techniques and safety practices, figuring out what blades to use, choosing wood and finding patterns.”
Thinking of patterns in terms of the direction of the grain of wood brings in the artistic side, he said.
“Finding patterns that you can translate to wood is a challenge,” Kantos said. “Cutting patterns is like photography. Sometimes you cannot capture what you are seeing.”
Now using a scroll saw that cost more than 15 times more than the original Christmas gift saw, with more blade capabilities, saw speed and board capabilities, Kantos uses wooden boards of pine, cedar, ash and oak.
“The transformation from a chunk of wood to a recognizable item takes a bit of doing and may not work no matter how you cut it,” he said. “It has been a long process to get where I am today.”
The work takes dexterity and other skills to be successful at the art, Kantos said. From learning to read the grain of the wood, which direction to move the board for certain cuts, figuring out which blades work with which wood, a scroll sawer also tackles “a host of little things that pop up along the way,” he said.
“I change little things in my patterns constantly,” Kantos said. “When cutting out 30 of the same item for a class, I put an extra wiggle here and there at times.”
This year, Kantos’ scroll sawing was featured in the Spring 2012 issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts, a nationwide magazine, which hit newsstands in January. Kantos’ cutouts given to classrooms were featured in the magazine.
Minnesota inspiration
Prior to learning scroll sawing, Kantos hadn’t done much with wood working, he said.
“I did enjoy my shop classes in seventh and eighth grade, but didn’t do much woodworking after that. I did build a few cabins, garages and sheds, but nothing like the cutouts I do now. Working for the U.S. Immigration (and Naturalization Service) for 30-plus years wasn’t much help in guiding me to the wood shop, either,” he joked. “My background really didn’t have much to do with where I have ended up, as with most things in this life.”
Growing up in Hibbing, going to college in Bemidji and living in International Falls, however, has kept him “in the north to enjoy the woods,” he said, adding that his love of the outdoors inspires his woodworking patterns. “As a tourist once told me at the (International) Bridge one time, ‘What’s so great about Canada? There’s nothing there except rocks and water and trees.’ I guess those are the things I find so great about our area.”
Writing the outdoors column for his college newspaper, interviewing several trappers, hunters and anglers in northern Minnesota, Kantos said the experience furthered his love of the outdoors.
Using wood from native Minnesota trees, such as white cedar and ash, when he can, his “The Northwoods” package of children’s cutouts for sale contains a moose, deer, bear, wolf, loon with baby on its back, eagle, and walleye. He also makes an ocean life set and a dinosaur set.
His now-adult daughter, Kallie Kantos-Fritz, said growing up around her father’s scroll sawing taught her characteristics of open-mindedness and the quality of dedicated work.
“He is always willing to try something new, a new project or to look at things in a new light; a different manner,” Kantos-Fritz said. “He works and works at something until he gets it right, right to the point where he is more than satisfied with the end product.”
Although Kantos says people compliment him on his work, he just looks at it as a valuable way to use his time.
“I enjoy what I do and this is one of my little niches in this life,” Kantos said. “Retirement is great, but no one should waste his time. Do something for someone. This is just what I do.”
